How to Choose the Right Video Type For the Best Results

Videos are the single most effective tool you have for promoting your brand.

There’s just one problem.

How the heck do you decide which type to use—doodle videos or animated explainer videos?

I mean, let’s face it—doodle videos are pretty cool. When you see a hand drawing on a whiteboard, you almost always can’t look away. You just have to know what it’s going to draw next … making this type of video a powerful way to keep someone glued to your message.

But then, animated explainer videos are so clever … a lot of them are really funny and since they usually tell a story, you feel compelled to watch them to the very end to find out what happens next.

In fact, when you think about it, both videos offer a lot of the same benefits. Each of them can be:

Attention-Grabbing

Engaging

High-Converting

Highly Shareable

Cost-Effective

So, you only need to use one or the other, right? After all, they both do the same thing…

WRONG.

What Savvy Marketers Know…

Successful marketers know that your objective should determine the type of video you use.

That’s because depending on what you’re trying to accomplish, sometimes animated explainer videos will work better, and sometimes doodle videos will.

To explain why that is, I’ve put together this handy guide. Keep reading to learn the advantages each video type offers, when you’ll want to use one over the other, and why for the best results, you should include both in your marketing mix.

I’ll get into that in more detail as we go along, but for now, just know that using both types of videos is kinda like a one-two punch! Although each video type is effective on its own, using them together is doubly powerful.

That’s because they each support your marketing goals in very different ways. Take doodle videos, for instance…

Marketers LOVE Doodle Videos for Educating

Like I said, doodle videos are videos that show a hand drawing images, usually on a whiteboard, chalkboard, or glassboard. Sometimes, you’ll hear these referred to as whiteboard videos.

Other than the motion of the hand, these videos don’t have any action. For instance, you won’t see characters walk, run, or jump. Because of the video style, there’s a limitation to what you can do with them.

However, that’s actually one of doodle videos’ strengths. Because there are less distractions, viewers really absorb the message.

As a result, marketers rely on doodle videos for educating their prospects… for teaching them something beneficial about their brand. They also use doodle videos for explaining, training, and presenting.

By contrast, animated explainer videos play a different role in marketing…

Marketers LOVE Animated Explainer Videos for Humanizing Their Brand

Animated explainer videos are no less popular with marketers than doodle videos. After all, who doesn’t love cartoons? In these videos, characters move across the screen in any fashion you like, making them more flexible than doodle videos.

Animated explainer videos are no less popular with marketers than doodle videos. After all, who doesn’t love cartoons? In these videos, characters move across the screen in any fashion you like, making them more flexible than doodle videos.

You know the old saying, “when pigs fly”? That’s what animation’s for. With animated explainer videos, you can make characters jump, dance, sing, and yep, even soar across the sky.

Because these videos are just like cartoons, animated explainers are usually humorous and character-driven … so they’re great for evoking warm fuzzies from viewers.

Which is why marketers like to use them to humanize their brand … to give it personality, while forging trust and making a connection with their audience.

The same thing holds true for brands. If you don’t like or trust a brand, its marketing falls on deaf ears. Yet the more you DO like a brand, the easier it is for that company to persuade you.

So, if Apple or Starbucks or Nike tells you about their amazing new product, you’re going to pay attention. If brand XYZ tells you the same thing, you’re skeptical.

The difference between Apple and brand XYZ is we like and trust Apple. Many of us own iPads, iPhones, or iPods, so we already have a personal connection with the brand

… creating that connection is what likeability is all about.

And the best way to achieve that is by humanizing your brand—which is another way of saying that you get people to like and trust your brand by demonstrating its human qualities.

That’s the first step in the persuasion process.

However, humanizing on its own isn’t enough … you also need to educate people with relevant information.

As a marketer, that means you need to explain how your solution solves prospects’ pain points.

If you can’t clearly do that, you’re not going to be able to persuade people to buy what you’re selling … which is why education is the second key to persuading others.

The Persuasion Equation

As you can see, marketers need to achieve two things to persuade others.

First, they want to make their brand likeable. They do this by humanizing it—giving it personality, so people trust it and form a connection to the brand.

They also want to educate prospects on why their solution’s the best. This is done by explaining how their product or service solves prospects’ problems.

Which is why for the best results, marketers will combine animated explainer videos and doodle videos, so they can enjoy the unique benefits each video type provides.

Let’s look at a couple examples of how that might work…

How Small Business’ Can Boost Marketing Results

Let’s say you own a small business that sells a weight loss supplement, and you want to promote it with the powerful one-two punch of both video types.

Doodle
Video

With the doodle video, you’d probably want to start off by mentioning your prospects’ struggles. So, you might begin by saying, “Does it seem like no matter what you do, the pounds just won’t come off?”

Once you have your audience’s attention, the doodle video offers the perfect format for teaching them about the benefits of your solution. So, you’d go into detail about how your supplement works and why it’s different from stuff they’ve tried in the past.

You’d essentially be using the whiteboard to teach them about your supplement—while keeping their eyes riveted to the screen.

In this scenario, you have their attention but as a marketer, your job doesn’t end there … you also have to convey trust. Everyone’s been burned by false marketing claims before, so you want to make it clear to prospects that you’re the real deal.

Keep in mind that most of them won’t make a purchase immediately. Usually, people require repeated exposures to a brand before they actually buy something. So, you don’t want to let your marketing efforts begin and end with the doodle video.

Animated
Explainer video

In the animated explainer video, you could tell a story about a character who initially struggled with weight loss, until they began taking your supplement.

With a clever, humorous story about someone much like your customers, you can form an emotional connection with your audience—upping their trust and your brand’s likeability.

That’s why addressing both factors that make up the persuasion equation will make your marketing message much more powerful!

Which, of course, translates to a better bottom line 🙂

Now, let’s take a look at how this might work with a non-profit…

How Non-Profits Can Improve Fundraising Results

The typical non-profit contends with two main issues:

People need to be convinced their money is being wisely spent.

They’re competing for donation dollars with all the other worthy charities out there.

The best way to combat this is again, with both a whiteboard video and an animated explainer.

For instance, you could create a whiteboard video that illustrates how every penny of each donation dollar is spent. A whiteboard’s perfect for this because it’s such an effective teaching tool—not only does its format help people remember what they’ve learned, but the moving hand is also a great way to keep people’s attention.

However, you don’t want to stop there.

While the whiteboard video highlights how your charity puts donation dollars to good use, it doesn’t answer the critical question of why someone should donate to your charity, rather than to one of the thousands of other worthy charities out there.

To answer that question, you’ll want to form an emotional connection with potential donors. In fact, getting prospects to feel something is absolutely essential to getting them to open their wallets.

Which is why an animated explainer video makes perfect sense!

Animation’s the best vehicle for sharing your message, because you’ll want a character moving across the screen as the story unfolds, just like it would in a really good cartoon or movie.

So, you might create an animated explainer video that pulls at people’s heartstrings while telling a touching story about someone your non-profit helped.

As you can see in this example, you’re addressing two of the biggest hurdles you have to overcome when fundraising—proving donors’ dollars are used wisely and showing why your mission’s a worthy one.

AND you’re doing it with the most effective video format that exists to get your message across … which is why using both videos together makes for an amazing fundraising tool.

When You Should Use Doodle Videos

So, I’ve given you a couple different examples of how you can combine video types to increase the effectiveness of your marketing. But how do you know when to use each one? That’s what we’ll cover here.

As a general guideline, doodle videos work best for education. So, you’ll want to use them to:

COVER A LOT OF INFO

Doodle videos are perfect when you have a lot to say. That’s because they keep viewers engaged for a longer period of time. For that reason, you should plan to use a doodle video for videos that are longer than two minutes in length. These longer videos, by the way, work best on Facebook, YouTube, and your website.

EXPLAIN COMPLEX SUBJECTS

If you’re in software, IT, or digital marketing, a whiteboard video is the perfect vehicle for explaining what it is you do. However, businesses of every industry can benefit from doodle videos.

For instance, if you want to explain how your stain-resistant clothing works or where you source your products from, you’ll want to use a whiteboard video. Because doodle videos resemble boards used in meetings and classrooms, they’re a really effective vehicle for complex explanations.

INCREASE RETENTION

When it’s really important that viewers remember your video content, again, you’ll want to choose a doodle video. This message format is the one best-suited to long-term memory retention. That’s why you’ll want to choose it for training, presenting, product tutorials, and fostering brand awareness.

PROMOTE A CAUSE

Millennials favor brands that create positive social change, and marketers have taken note. As a result, more and more companies are choosing to make charitable donations each time someone makes a purchase, or to make the world a better place in some other way. If you’re one of those companies, a doodle video is a great way to explain what you do and why.

TEACH SOMETHING NEW

Digital products–like software, for example–are difficult to display. To get around that, you can create a tutorial about your digital product using a doodle video. It’s an incredibly effective marketing piece, especially when someone’s in the decision phase, trying to determine whether to buy from you or not.

And of course, you can also make how-to videos showing customers how to use your product, reducing your customer support needs.

GENERATE LEADS

Doodle videos are also great for lead generation. For instance, let’s go back to the weight loss supplement we talked about earlier. In that example, we could create doodle videos on topics like:

Naturally, you’d prominently feature your supplement in each of these videos.

Now, you’re probably not selling weight loss supplements, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever you’re selling is helping someone DO something—making it a great topic for all kinds of creative tips, hacks, and how-to videos.

By posting these types of videos on Facebook and YouTube, you can attract way more leads—making this an easy, yet highly effective, marketing strategy.

ADDRESS PROBLEMS

Before you can get someone to buy your solution, you first need to attract their attention by making them aware of you. A great way to do that is with a whiteboard video that addresses your prospects’ pain points, and then explains how you can resolve those problems. This, by the way, is how you can position your brand as an industry authority.

When You Should Use Animated Explainer Videos

Animated explainer videos will give your brand that oh-so-important likeability factor, which is an essential part of persuasion. Because these videos evoke emotion, they’re great for forging a personal connection with your audience.

That’s why animated explainer videos are the perfect way to humanize your brand. So, you should use them to:

TELL A STORY

While doodle videos have plenty of benefits, they’re not great for storytelling. That’s because without animation, there’s no action. Instead, characters just stand there lifelessly, making for a less-than-thrilling story.

On the other hand, you can make characters do anything in animated explainer videos, which is why they’re an amazing vehicle for storytelling.

Plus, did you know that storytelling is one of the most effective tactics marketers have to get their brand messaging across? It’s true. Because stories are really memorable, they’re fantastic for increasing brand awareness, as well as sales.

That’s why it’s a great idea to create a story about a typical customer, making your brand the hero—using an animated explainer video, of course!

KEEP IT SHORT

Most of the video scripts you create will probably be less than 300 words. When that’s the case, it’s a good idea to use animated explainers. Their engaging, animated style works well for videos that are less than two minutes long.

For the best results, experts advise keeping animated explainer videos between 60-90 seconds in length.

ADVERTISE

When you’re looking to draw attention to your brand, paid advertising is the way to go. For maximum effectiveness, create a 30-second animated ad that you can run on television, YouTube, AdWords Display, or Facebook.

Because animated videos are so engaging and likeable, this is a great way to build brand awareness, while humanizing your brand.

GO VIRAL

As you can probably guess, shorter videos are shared more often than longer ones. And a funny, short video? Well, that’s gonna get you the most shares of all.

If you’re looking to generate brand awareness with a viral video, you’ll definitely want to make a funny animated explainer video and add it to your social media channels.

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